By Lance Webb
We’ve seen the effects of nutrition and how it relates to improved academic performance in our other blogs such as What's the Connection Between Diet and Academic Achievement?, but there may be other ways to improve academic performance other than what we put in our bodies...
RitaE. (2017, March 23). Asparagus Steak Veal Steak Veal Meat Barbecue [Photograph]. Pixabay.
We use exercise for various reasons such as, physical fitness, energy, or even sleep! But now there is more research developing that is looking into the effects of exercise on cognitive performance. For example, the article, Evidence for improved memory from 5 minutes of immediate, post-encoding exercise among women, compared whether it was more beneficial to exercise before or after memory exercises. It was found that exercise after memory exercises was only “consistently observable only among female participants for reasons that are not yet clear” (Most et al., 2017, page 12).
Some research leads to “inconclusive evidence of the beneficial effects of PA interventions on cognitive and overall academic performance”(Singh et al., 2019, page 8), but don’t be alarmed! The research couldn’t find substantial evidence for OVERALL performance, but when it comes to MATH performance, they found that “there is strong evidence for beneficial effects of PA”(Singh et al., 2019, page 8).
Aitoff. (2016, June 10). Pie Pi Circle Diameter Pastry Pork Round Baked [Photograph]. Pixabay.
The Problem
Generally, most research that is collected revolving around physical health may not be completely free of bias due to positivity associated with the topic. Bias was addressed and steps were taken to eliminate bias effectively by the “anonymity of responses throughout the rounds. Experts were not influenced by one another in generating or rating the responses, and, in fact, were not known to each other until after data collection was completed” (Singh et al., 2019, page 7).
What Does This Mean?
There is general positivity with physical activity BECAUSE of the benefits that boost mood due to physiological processes such as increased production of endorphins. Is physical activity research biased because there aren't more negative findings?
What Should YOU Do?
Well we can’t expertly suggest how you should apply exercise or nutrition to your life, but I suspect that you will have trouble finding research that advises AGAINST adding general exercise and healthy eating to your routine. We can only expect more conclusive evidence with a developing field of study.
References
Aitoff. (2016, June 10). Pie Pi Circle Diameter Pastry Pork Round Baked [Photograph]. Pixabay.
Hainguyenrp. (2020, March 24). Brain Hand Grey Gray Brain [Photograph]. Pixabay.
Most, S. B., Kennedy, B. L., & Petras, E. A. (2017). Evidence for improved memory from 5 minutes of immediate, post-encoding exercise among women. 2(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-017-0068-1
RitaE. (2017, March 23). Asparagus Steak Veal Steak Veal Meat Barbecue [Photograph]. Pixabay.
Singh, A. S., Saliasi, E., van den Berg, V., Uijtdewilligen, L., Renate,H.M., de G., Jolles, J., Andersen, L. B., Bailey, R., Chang, Y.-K., Diamond, A., Ericsson, I., Etnier, J. L., Fedewa, A. L., Hillman, C. H., McMorris, T., Pesce, C., Pühse, U., Tomporowski, P. D., & Chinapaw, M. J. M. (2019). Effects of physical activity interventions on cognitive and academic performance in children and adolescents: a novel combination of a systematic review and recommendations from an expert panel. 53(10), 640–647. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2017-098136
StockSnap. (2017, August 5). Woman Jogging Running Exercise Fitness Earphones [Photograph]. Pixabay.